Thursday, March 1, 2012

Squares from a car

We had some discussion about the look of the photographs, and about using the square format, at Mark Hobson's blog. I quote myself (slightly edited):

I followed Mark's blog for some time until I grow into appreciation of the square format. He is definitely my inspiration.

But it wasn't until the Panasonic LX3 got the ability to take square photographs (and see them on the LCD) when I started to experiment with it.

Slowly I realized that the square fits my way of looking at the world. Maybe I always have been a bit squarish.

My mother had a 6x6/120 film camera, and was quite skilled with it. It may be that I learned to appreciate square photographs when looking at the family photographs when I was young.


The LX5 is even better than the LX3 as it has the 1:1 setting on the aspect ratio switch, no need for menus.

Also, I quote myself on the topic of a "recipe" for photographs:

I don't know of any particular recipe. I shoot straight jpegs (no RAW) and usually I don't do post-processing. I often underexpose a bit, but that is the way I see the world.


Maybe using the word underexposure is wrong, as for me it is the right exposure. And I try to get it right in the camera.

As to the topic of taking photographs from a car, here also Mark has been my inspiration. But I haven't gone to such extremes as Mark, who can take photographs in "a snow storm that made the driving interesting [...] with 1 hand while driving with the other hand".

3 comments:

Brian Small said...

Alberta has recently implemented strict "Distracted Driving" laws. So taking pictures (and texting) while operating a motor vehicle is now illegal here. I dug around in my collection to find the last photo I took while driving.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bsmall_ab/6854440103/

Juha Haataja said...

@Brian: This seems to be a popular topic, now TOP posted an example.

Here in Finland it is forbidden to use a mobile phone without a handsfee while driving. But one regularly sees the law broken.

Using a camera while driving a moving vehicle is not a great idea. But when the car is stopped in traffic lights for a longer time, this may be another matter. And we have a lot of traffic lights in Helsinki...

robert said...

My first visit to your interesting blog Juha, and what do I notice in your tags ,the word square. I too have a LX3 and never knew the square format was available! Lately I've been pondering a Hasselblad, mostly for the square format but also the mechanical beauty and resolution it brings to photography. So I thank you for saving me some money for the time being anyway.